UT football: Awards keep rolling in

AUSTIN — For the past decade, the Texas Longhorns have expanded or added to some part of Royal-Memorial Stadium almost every year. This offseason, they might have to think about widening the trophy room.

Quarterback Colt McCoy was announced Thursday as the winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which honors the nation’s top; senior quarterback. He already was named the Big 12 offensive player of the year by the Associated Press and the league’s coaches.

But that might just be the beginning of the individual award haul by this year’s Longhorns. Mack Brown has been named the Big 12 coach of the year. McCoy, one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy, is a finalist for a long list of other honors, including the Walter Camp player of the year award, the Maxwell Award (nation’s top player), the Davey O’Brien Award (nation’s top quarterback), the Manning Award (nation’s top quarterback) and the Campbell Trophy (the “academic Heisman”).

Sergio Kindle this week was named a finalist for the Hendricks Award, which honors the nation’s top defensive end. He’s also a Butkus Award finalist, which is a bit odd, because that goes to the country’s best linebacker, and Kindle has been primarily an end this season.

Other major national award finalists for UT include Jordan Shipley (up for the Biletnikoff Award for wide receivers) and Earl Thomas (up for the Thorpe Award for defensive backs).